customer research & personas

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6.16.2014 Customer Research & Personas Brian Winters @bwinters

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This presentation reviews the different approaches to research and outlines how you can bring the personas out of static documents and into the on-going conversation about your customers within your organization with something called Listening Sessions.

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Page 1: Customer Research & Personas

6.16.2014

Customer Research & Personas

Brian Winters @bwinters

Page 2: Customer Research & Personas

WHAT WE’LL COVER Personas Overview

Research to Personas

Listening Sessions

Page 3: Customer Research & Personas

A FEW QUESTIONS How well do you know your customers?

How do you use personas?

What is the value of personas to your organization?

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P E R S O N A S O V E R V I E W

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PERSONA VALUE

We talk to people to gain a better understanding of them, their context and what they need to accomplish their goals. The data we uncover feeds into our design decisions and uncovers new opportunities.

§  Common understanding of our users

§  Describes peoples’ goals and mental

models

§  Aids us in design decisions

§  Prioritizes features

§  Scenario-based

§  Rich stories with emotion = Empathy

§  Consensus builders

It’s not just about pain-points, it’s about insights

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Forrester’s six criteria for personas

SIX CRITERIA 1.  Does the persona sound like a real person?

2.  Is the persona’s narrative compelling?

3.  Does the persona call out key attributes and high-level goals?

4.  Is the persona focused on establishing design decisions?

5.  Is the persona usable?

6.  Does the persona have appropriate production values?

Source: state of the art personas, jonathan browne – forrester research

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A persona artifact is just one piece to understanding the customer

CHALLENGES

Persona documents are simply a snapshot

Personas can be easily forgotten

Empathy for the user is missing in the conversation

We know the persona detail, but can we speak for them?

Getting to the right data requires skill and practice

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THE INGREDIENTS • Characteristics

• Interests

• Personality

• User Type

• Quotes

• Skills

• Knowledge

• Scenarios

• Relationships

• Emotions

• Goals

• Pain Points

• Frustrations

• Influences

• Technology

PROFILE CONTEXT OPPORTUNITY

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Image

Name/Personal Info

Demographics

Scenario/Overview

Goals/Needs

Frustrations/Pain Points

Persona template

Common Activities/Scenarios

Attributes Snapshot

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Transform your business

BIZ QUESTIONS What does it take to shift our culture to be more customer-centered?

Do we have a good story to tell of our customers and their experience with us?

How do people really use our products and why?

What’s the best way to beat our competitors?

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R E S E A R C H F O R P E R S O N A S

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RESEARCH TO PERSONA

Research Data:

•  Quotes

•  Pain Points/Needs

•  Observations

•  Insights

•  Tasks

•  Scenarios

Data Analysis

Finding Patterns:

•  Affinity Clustering

•  Relationships

•  Emotions

•  Behaviors

•  Needs Identification

•  Context Attributes

Develop Insights & Persona

•  What does it mean?

•  Follow-up research

•  Storytelling

•  Common Understanding

•  Research, test, iterate

Synthesis

Page 15: Customer Research & Personas

Overview

Generative research methods help us uncover people’s motivations, behaviors & attitudes, Through direct observation we discover context-of-use, and how people really do things. Value

This type of research drives innovation and yields insights to leapfrogging the competition.

Genera&ve  Research    

Evalua&ve  Research    

Preference  Research    

Data and Insights: › See how people are doing their work in

context. › Observe artifacts people use in their workflow.

› Observe work-arounds that show hidden needs.

› Discover details of relationships between people and departments where you can create value. › Understand the Why behind behaviors,

motivations and beliefs

Overview Evaluative research methods are used to validate current solutions, optimize the current experience, and improve business metrics. Value

This type of research yields incremental improvements to evolve an existing solution.

Data and Insights: › Find gaps in the flow of user tasks.

› Uncover improvements in content and labeling. › See how your current solution stacks up

against the competition.

› Validate design decisions for navigation, content organization and interactions.

› Usage statistics provide direction on potential areas for improvement.

Overview With preference research methods help we ask people to express their perceptions, opinions, beliefs about a product or service. Value

This type of research provides direction on where to go deeper with other research methods.

Data and Insights: › Find out if people like a design, branding and

the aesthetics. › Uncover what people like or dislike about the

experience they have with your solution.

› Capture quantitative feedback to uncover behavior trends and attitudes.

› Understand how people perceive the value of your solution.

RESEARCH TYPES

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Genera&ve  Research    

Evalua&ve  Research    

Preference  Research    

METHOD SELECTION Find new ways to increase engagement with your customers.

Business Questions:

› How can we delight our customers? › How do we disrupt the market? › How do people really use our products?

Research Methods:

› Contextual Inquiry › Non-directed Interview › Ethnography › Customer Diary

Optimize the customer experience and your success metrics.

Business Questions:

› Can we increase our conversion rate? › Is our navigation helpful to our customers? › How do we stack up against competitors?

Research Methods:

› Usability or A/B Testing › Web Analytics › Card Sorting › Competitive Analysis

Understand customers’ opinions and preferences to improve adoption.

Business Questions:

› What do people think of my brand? › What do they want from my company? › What do people like about our products?

Research Methods:

› Surveys › Focus Groups › Customer Feedback Channels › Card Sorting

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Where do you get good Persona Data?

PERSONA DATA Existing Research

Existing Customer Data

Customer Feedback Channels

Usability Research

In-Context Interviews

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Good analysis is important to find the right data

ANALYSIS Know what you are looking for

Make sure data is complete

Look for unexpected patterns

Allow enough time to process data

Work in small groups

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Turning your insights into a persona

SYNTHESIS No strict formula to persona design

Make it a story or conversation

Scenarios are important

Should be easily shared

Update frequently with new data

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L I S T E N I N G S E S S I O N S

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LISTENING SESSION Immersion in your customer’s experience

•  Focus on listening Deep, active listening helps us uncover latent needs and unexpected insights.

•  Facilitated Session Facilitate the analysis of what you are hearing from the customer to drive towards new ideas and uncover new ways to think about your solution.

•  Real-Time You’ll walk away from every the sessions with insights that you can immediately apply to your project work.

•  Active Participation Share with a broader group how to analyze usability research data, teaching your team how to think about the data and findings, for maximum impact on your designs.

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TRADITIONAL

Interview questions & tips

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NEW APPROACH

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Active participation

The interview

ACTIVE PARTICIPATION

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The interview

COLLABORATION

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The interview

EXPERT FACILITATION

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The interview

ANALYSIS

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Interview questions & tips

STORYTELLING

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REQUIREMENTS

Listens between the lines

Bridges the gap between biz and user

Adept at teasing out the Why

Empathic Listener

Skilled researcher

Co-participation by stakeholders

Facilitation

Real Empathy

Structure & planning

Keys to success

Empathic listening

Merges perspectives to gain empathy

Illustrates motivations and goals

Focuses on experiences and not

product preferences

Uncovers the Why

Active participation

More minds, more better

Increases stakeholder buy-in

Teaches people how to listen

New way to collaborate

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KEY INGREDIENTS How do You make it a success? Getting the most out of a Listening Session requires more than just a gathering of people with post-it notes. Approach, skill and preparation can make a difference.

Solid Plan & Structure Strong In-room Facilitator

Workspace & Support

Committed Stakeholders Adjust, Adjust, Adjust

Delay Solutions Talk

Page 31: Customer Research & Personas

QUESTIONS?

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F IN

Brian Winters

[email protected]

@bwinters